Getting Started¶

This section describes how to install the CernVM-FS client. The CernVM-FS client is supported on x86, x86_64, and ARM architectures running Linux or Mac OS X \(\geq 10.12\). There is experimental support for Power 8 and RISC-V.

Overview¶

The CernVM-FS repositories are located under /cvmfs. Each repository is identified by a fully qualified repository name. On Linux, mounting and un-mounting of the CernVM-FS is usually controlled by autofs and automount. That means that starting from the base directory /cvmfs different repositories are mounted automatically just by accessing them. A repository will be automatically unmounted after some automount-defined idle time. On macOS, mounting and un-mounting of the CernVM-FS is done by the user with sudo mount -t cvmfs /cvmfs/... commands.

Getting the Software¶

The CernVM-FS source code and binary packages are available from the CernVM website. However it is recommended to use the available package repositories that are also provided for the supported operating systems.

Scientific Linux/CentOS¶

To add the CVMFS repository and install CVMFS run

sudo yum install https://ecsft.cern.ch/dist/cvmfs/cvmfs-release/cvmfs-release-latest.noarch.rpm
sudo yum install -y cvmfs

Debian/Ubuntu¶

To add the CVMFS repository and install CVMFS run

wget https://ecsft.cern.ch/dist/cvmfs/cvmfs-release/cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
rm -f cvmfs-release-latest_all.deb
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cvmfs

Fedora¶

To install the CVMFS package run

sudo dnf install https://ecsft.cern.ch/dist/cvmfs/cvmfs-2.7.5/cvmfs-2.7.5-1.fc29.x86_64.rpm https://ecsft.cern.ch/dist/cvmfs/cvmfs-config/cvmfs-config-default-latest.noarch.rpm

Mac OS X¶

Install the CernVM-FS package by opening the .pkg file.

Setting up the Software¶

Configure AutoFS¶

For the basic setup, run cvmfs_config setup. This ensures that the file /etc/auto.master.d/cvmfs.autofs exists containing /cvmfs /etc/auto.cvmfs and that the autofs service is running. Reload the autofs service in order to apply an updated configuration.

NB: For OpenSUSE uncomment the line #+dir:/etc/auto.master.d/ in the file /etc/auto.master and restart the autofs service.

sed -i 's%#+dir:/etc/auto.master.d%+dir:/etc/auto.master.d%' /etc/auto.master
systemctl restart autofs

Mac OS X¶

On Mac OS X, CernVM-FS is based on OSXFuse. It is not integrated with autofs hence mount the individual repositories using

sudo mkdir -p /cvmfs/cms.cern.ch
sudo mount -t cvmfs cms.cern.ch /cvmfs/cms.cern.ch

Create default.local¶

Create /etc/cvmfs/default.local and open the file for editing. Select the desired repositories by setting CVMFS_REPOSITORIES=repo1,repo2,.... For ATLAS, for instance, set

CVMFS_REPOSITORIES=atlas.cern.ch,atlas-condb.cern.ch,grid.cern.ch

Specify the HTTP proxy servers on your site with

CVMFS_HTTP_PROXY="http://myproxy1:port|http://myproxy2:port"

If you’re unsure about the proxy names, set CVMFS_HTTP_PROXY=DIRECT. This should only be done for a small number of clients (< 5), because large numbers can put a heavy load on the Stratum 1 servers and result, amongst others, in poorer performance for the client. For the syntax of more complex HTTP proxy settings, see Network Settings.

If you install CernVM-FS on a single, possibly roaming computer, you can specifiy CVMFS_CLIENT_PROFILE=single in which case CernVM-FS will choose a suitable proxy automatically.

Verify the file system¶

Check if CernVM-FS mounts the specified repositories by cvmfs_config probe. If the probe fails, try to restart autofs with sudo systemctl restart autofs.

Building from source¶

The CernVM-FS client is not relocatable and needs to be installed under /usr. On Intel architectures, it needs a gcc \(\geq 4.2\) compiler, on ARMv7 a gcc \(\geq 4.7\) compiler. In order to compile and install from sources, use the following commands

cd <source directory>
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ../
make
sudo make install

Troubleshooting¶

In order to check for common misconfigurations in the base setup, run

cvmfs_config chksetup

CernVM-FS gathers its configuration parameter from various configuration files that can overwrite each others settings (default configuration, domain specific configuration, local setup, …). To show the effective configuration for repository.cern.ch, run

cvmfs_config showconfig repository.cern.ch

In order to exclude autofs/automounter as a source of problems, you can try to mount repository.cern.ch manually with the following

mkdir -p /mnt/cvmfs
mount -t cvmfs repository.cern.ch /mnt/cvmfs

In order to exclude SELinux as a source of problems, you can try mounting after SELinux has been disabled by

/usr/sbin/setenforce 0

Once the issue has been identified, ensure that the changes are taken by restarting autofs

systemctl restart autofs